NOW SHOWING: LONDON SCREEN GUIDE w/c 17.03.17

To help your hunt for adventurous moving pictures, RADIANT CIRCUS hand-picks screen highlights for the week ahead*. This week, two significant film festivals open across London, FLARE and KINOTEKA, whilst two others come to a close, HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH and FASHION IN FILM.

Our featured film of the week is FLARE’s THE UNTAMED, because use of the word “tentacular” in a film programme always gets our attention.

FRIDAY 17 MARCH 2017, 19:30, BERNIE GRANT ARTS CENTRE

CEDDO is part of a short season of works by Ousmane Sembène, the “father of African cinema”. You can catch good documentary about the great man with SEMBENE! on SUNDAY 19 MARCH (16:00) at the same venue.

Looking for an alternative? Try XXY (19:30) at Deptford Cinema – part of their regular LATIN AMERICA CINEMA NIGHT and #directedbywomen. With tickets only £5 (£3.50 concessions) this coming-of-age drama is a brilliant intersex alternative to the largely sold out Friday night at FLARE/BFI.

SATURDAY 18 MARCH 2017, 18:00, CURZON BLOOMSBURY

A DOCTOR’S SWORD + Q&A is a part-animated documentary about survival, truth and reconciliation, discovering how a Japanese soldier came to give his sword to an RAF doctor and prisoner of war. The evening includes discussion with Director Gary Lennon and Producer Bob Jackson.

Looking for an alternative? Try SEOUL STATION + TRAIN TO BUSAN for a flesh-ripping double bill of Korean zombie thrillers at Stratford Picturehouse (20:30).

SUNDAY 19 MARCH 2017, VARIOUS

Two festivals, two films about school age violence. PLAYGROUND considers what happens when shocking violence interrupts young lives (KINOTEKA, Regent Street Cinema, 15:00), whilst 1:54 examines the consequences of homophobic bullying at a French high school (FLARE, BFI, 20:45). Why not try the cheery double bill?

MONDAY 20 MARCH 2017, 20:30, GENESIS CINEMA

OM SHANTI OM screens at Genesis Cinema as part of FASHION IN FILM, a multi-faceted Bollywood “romantic costume drama, ludic period film, art deco fantasy, and film-within-a-film”. Genesis also screens AELITA (TUESDAY 21 MARCH, 20:30) complete with live theremin accompaniment (and you don’t get many of those these days…).

Looking for an alternative? Teaser screenings for the KOREAN FILM FESTIVAL begin with A QUIET DREAM at Regent Street Cinema (19:30). Prominent film directors play characters they have previously created, adding “to the film’s dreamy and mysterious texture”.

THE RED SPIDER (2015) screens at ICA (21.03.17) as part of KINOTEKA.

TUESDAY 21 MARCH 2017, 18:30, ICA

Inspired by a 1960s serial killer, the so-called Vampire of Kraków, THE RED SPIDER + Q&A includes discussion with director Marcin Koszałka about his film’s exploration of evil.

BFI transforms into FLARE, London’s LGBT film festival, this week with a wide ranging programme (16 MARCH to 26 MARCH). Lots of screenings are SOLD OUT at the time of writing. We’ve tried to find films for this SCREEN GUIDE with some availability…

Deptford Cinema opens exhibition ART WITH BEES by artist Jan Karpek with a party (SUNDAY 19 MARCH, 19:00). Nothing to do with the movies, these are moving pictures: “works on handmade paper which were inserted in the beehive for short period of time and processed by natural activity of bees”. What’s not to love?

Insight Film Festival – an ongoing exploration of all faiths and none – stages CONVERSATIONS BEFORE THE APOCALYPSE (SUNDAY 19 MARCH, 20:00) at Rich Mix, combining short films and discussion about the end of days, faith and identity.

Kinoteka – the 15th London Polish film festival – begins with a gala screening of AFTERIMAGE at Regent Street Cinema (FRIDAY 17 MARCH, 19:00) and runs until 5 APRIL. THE ARTON REVIEW (SATURDAY 18 MARCH, 13.30 – 18:00) at Whitechapel Gallery features works by a younger generation of artists “inspired by the classics of Polish experimental filmmaking and video art”. ICA and Regent Street offer reduced price multi-buys on tickets for the festival.

And finally…

Tenderpixel opens a new exhibition THE ACCURSED STARE featuring video and animation by David Firrando Giraut. Runs from 22 MARCH to 22 APRIL.